ROBERT ELLIS

Arepa Omeka, Maehe (1983)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1630 x 1275 mm

Rakaumangamanga, 19 Pepurere (1981)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1890 x 1622 mm

Kite, Noema (1980)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1730 x 1740 mm

Aperira (1983)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1620 x 1675 mm

Rakaumangamanga, 20th October (1980)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1950 x 1705 mm

Rakaumangamanga, 16 Tihema (1980)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1965 x 1725 mm

Te Manu Whara, Tihema (1980)

acrylic on unstretched canvas, canvas: 1995 x 1730 mm

This collection of paintings from Robert Ellis is imbued with the concept of tūrangawaewae - a deep connection with land which is both spiritual and physical. Ellis weaves together threads from his own sense of place and history with those drawn from his wife’s Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Porou heritage. The rich visual and symbolic languages of his paintings translate into complex works of art with subtle layers of meaning to explore.

The elasticity of verbal language is used to ‘hide in plain sight’ multiple cultural meanings in the earliest paintings of this series. KITE, Noema 1980 and Te Manu Whara Tihema 1980 both exhort the viewer to search, to discover (kite). The word takes centre stage in the paintings, each of which is divided up into simple geometrical shapes reminiscent of banners or signage. It is testament to the artist’s appreciation of language and tikanga, that manu whara (literally: ‘wounded bird’) also denotes a sacred kite flown by tohunga for purposes of divination and communication with the gods. (1) Ellis acknowledges the different pathways to knowledge and does not privilege one over another.

The Rakaumangamanga works are named for the maunga (mountain) they represent and to which Ellis is personally linked through his wife Elizabeth’s ancestral ties. Replete with symbolism, they address a particular time in history:

“I was part of the landscape at that time when the land was being subdivided and sold with great conflicts between the local council and Maori shareholders of the land.” (2)

“when people got in by road… suddenly all these fences went up ‘this is my land, that’s yours’… people were squaring it up and finding out who owned what...” (3)

Ellis is always conscious of the complexity of settlements and histories, myths and legends that is connected to a certain place. This can be seen in the layering of colour and pattern in the surface of his works where symbols lie atop an older, painted ‘history’. In Rakaumangamanga 19 Pepuere 1981 the stepped bulk of the mountain’s profile dominates the canvas and Ellis uses strong red lines to cut through the rich black-green of the hill, suggesting roads, surveying lines, and topographical

maps. Thinly slanted shapes at the top of the painting contain barely legible numbers and may be interpreted as potential parcels of land. Muted glints can be spied in the textured paint and Ellis notes:

“I was using metallic colours - gold silver, copper and bronze – to extend the colour vocabulary, and hybrids of these produced quite distinctive, unique colours and extended the painting range. This was one of the characteristics of my paintings at the time.” (4)

Like contemporaries Colin McCahon and Ralph Hotere, Robert Ellis was strongly aware of the role of the written word as sign and symbol. All three painters were concerned with issues of land, spirituality, and biculturalism, although approached them in very different manners. As with McCahon and Hotere, Ellis integrated text into his paintings using his own, idiosyncratic typeface but unlike them uses words as signposts rather than personal exhortation. In Kite Noema 1980 and Te Manu Whara, Tihema 1980 the block capitals are an intrinsic part of the composition of the paintings, acting initially as a graphic element and then as a symbolic one. The words become emblems, balancing form and meaning equally. The opening lines of Te Rauparaha’s famous haka dominate the canvas in Aperira 1983 and the clean lines of the white-on-black lettering brings to mind road signs of the time. Ellis lays the text before the viewer, sets the visual and cultural parameters, and leaves viewers to read the signs as they wish.

The text becomes both the message and the medium in Arepa Omeka, Maehe 1983. ‘Arepa’ and ‘Omeka’ are deliberate references to Rātana, but also sit firmly within a Western historical context that goes back to Ancient Greece and this cultural ambiguity intent allows for a broad interpretation of the work. Using minimal colour, Ellis pares the painting back to its essentials. The words appear to float above the dense black background and the stylised comet seems to have been drawn across the canvas, leaving trails in the painted surface. The tightly controlled outlines of both lettering and star are softened by the subtle texture of the paint within, and Ellis likewise disrupts the black ground of the painting with small spatters of white and red. Recalling the hand of the artist, these organic elements are the imperfections that serve to enhance the allure and power of the work as a whole.

Robert Ellis draws observations from personal as well as social perspectives to explore elements of New Zealand identities and the tangled histories contained in the land: geological, environmental, European, Māori, political, private. These narratives combine to create a deep, abiding, and spiritual sense of place in the paintings that make up Land.

1.http://history-nz.org/kite.html.Accessed23/01/15

2.RobertEllisquotedinVirginiaWere,“TakingMcCahonNeat”, Art News,Autumn2003,p.46

3.RobertEllisindiscussionwithMeganLyon,Auckland,2002

4.RobertEllis.Artist’sStatement,2015.

ROBERT ELLIS

b. 1929 Northampton, England, lives Auckland

Robert Ellis is one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent artists. He has held more than 60 solo exhibitions and innumerable group exhibitions in New Zealand and abroad. Over the past decades Robert Ellis’s paintings have addressed issues of New Zealand identity in which he draws together threads of European and Pacific cultures. These works make observations about the two cultural threads from a personal as well as social perspective. They combine European and Pacific images. Those deriving from the West include the horse, chair and chalice and medieval geometric designs. The Pacific imagery features the Ratana symbol and the koru while there are a number of others that cross boundaries such as the hand, the fish and the stars.” (1)

“I’m trying to convey a philosophic viewpoint. So my paintings are full of all sorts of things, symbolic conundrums that tempt the person looking into trying to seek and therefore to get more out of the paintings. I use disparate images I change the scale and because they are juxtaposed they assume a different kind of identity. They become something else.” (2)

“There is deliberate disparity between objects so that the final imagery is rich in meaning but partly enigmatic. Although narrative in content they are open to a variety of levels of interpretation. In all these images there is a sophisticated handling of design aspects as well as a rich colouristic and textural treatment of the medium”. (3)

“Underlying most of Ellis’s work is a conservationist ethic, a concern to preserve what is valuable from the past, whether it be spiritual or cultural values, natural landforms or simple lifestyles.” (4)

Born in Northampton, England 1929, Ellis studied at Northampton School of Art from 1944 to 1947 and attended the Royal College of Art, London from 1949 to 1952. He came to New Zealand in 1957 to take up a position as Senior Lecturer at Elam School of Fine Arts where he taught from 1957 to 1994. He has lived on Auckland’s North Shore since 1970.

Ellis has works in numerous major public and private collections throughout New Zealand, UK, Australia, and the USA, including the British Foreign Office, Aotea Cultural Centre and Harrah’s Casino Collection Auckland. Although primarily known as a painter who demonstrates a “technical sophistication in the handling of design, texture and colour”. (5) Ellis has worked in many mediums including etching, tapestry, lithography, medallic casting, photography and video.

1. John Daly Peoples, ‘North Shore Artist’s Catalogue’ Northart 2001.

2. Megan Lyon in conversation with Robert Ellis, July 2002.

3. Michael Dunn, ‘A Concise History of New Zealand Painting’, Craftsman House, 1991.

4. Warwick Brown, ‘100 New Zealand Paintings’, Godwit, 1995.

5. Michael Dunn, ‘Contemporary Painting in New Zealand’, Craftsman House, 1996.

City,River&OrangeSky(1964)

ROBERT ELLIS

b. 1929 Northampton, England, lives Auckland

EDUCATION

Northampton and Hammersmith Schools of Art and was awarded a royal exhibition Scholarship to the School of Painting at the Royal College of Art, London.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS (1990+)

Ellis’s first solo exhibition was in 1959. He has been exhibiting since. For a full and complete list of his solo exhibitions, please refer to the 2014 publication ‘Robert Ellis’, Ron Sang Publications.

2015 Land, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2014 Robert Ellis, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand

2013 Paintings, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2008 Works Unseen, milford galleries auckland

2007 Selected Works by Robert Ellis , Milford Galleries Dunedin

2006 ShieldedHistories,milfordgalleriesAuckland

2005 Covenant,milfordgalleriesAuckland

2004 Kite:seefindrecognise,milfordgalleriesAuckland

2002 Maungawhau/MtEden,milfordgalleriesauckland

1994 Nga Taonga, New Paintings by Robert Ellis, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1993 Nga Toanga, New Drawings by Robert Ellis, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

1992 Robert Ellis, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1991 Robert Ellis, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

The Aotea Tapestry, National Art Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

1990 New Paintings by Robert Ellis, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS (1990 +)

Ellis’s first group exhibition was in 1948. He has been exhibiting since. For a full and complete list of his solo exhibitions, please refer to the 2014 publication ‘Robert Ellis’, Ron Sang Publications.

2014 Drawings 2014, North Art, Auckland

2013 Drawings and Works on Paper, Art in the Window and Pocket Edition, North Art, Auckland

Landmark Exhibition: Selected Works from the Rutherford Trust Collection, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland

Summer Show, Milford Galleries Dunedin

One Night, Four Weeks, The John Weeks Memorial Trust Collection, Window, The University of Auckland

2012 Rear Vision, Six Artists Looking Back, Give Take and Drawings 2012, North Art, Auckland Significant Works, Cosen and Summer Show, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2011 Pindrop Foundation, Elena Keith, lithograph

From the Stone, the Floor or Behind the Door: Small Treasure from the Artist’s Studio Large Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Contemporary Art Works by Artists of the Region, Drawings 2011, Pocket Edition and Small Works for Large Walls, Northart, Auckland

GEMS, The Earls Street Journal and Summer Show, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2010 Mahurangi Group 8th Annual Exhibition, Matakana

Drawings 2010, Northart, Auckland

Delights, MANZ, Remuera Gallery, Auckland

Te Huringa, Turning Points, Whangarei Museum, Te Wharetaonga o Whangarei Garden of Delight, Auckland Botanical Gardens

2009 Group Seven, Drawings ’09 and Recent Works, Northart, Auckland

Te Kete Araonui Experience, ASB Showground, Atamira Expo, Auckland Garden of Delights, NZCMG, Haukaiwaka Centre, Manukau, Auckland

Masterworks, milford galleries Queenstown

Journeys, MG, Auckland

Te Huringa, Turning Points, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin

RobertEllis2015CV

Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

2008

Solid Gold, Classic Hits from Rutherford Trust Collection, Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga O Waikato, Hamilton; Expressions Gallery, Upper Hutt; Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, Palmeston North Te Huringa, Turning Points, Rotorua Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga O Te Arawa

2007 10 Big Painitings, Northart, Northland

2007 Hotere, Ellis, Arnold, Main, Tootill, milford galleries auckland

Auckland Art Fair

2006 Braithwaite, Ellis, Harris, milford galleries Auckland

2005 Covenant, milford galleries auckland

Chosen: Premier Investment Exhibition, milford galleries Auckland McCahon, Hotere, Ellis, Harris, milford galleries Queenstown

2004 Transit of Venus, milford galleries Auckland

2003

Chosen: Premier Investment Exhibition, milford galleries auckland

Notions of the Figurative, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Te Wa: The Space, Wanganui

Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden Community Arts Trust, Auckland

2002 The Cloak, milford galleries auckland

Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXVIII Fidem Congress, Paris Mint [Monnaie de Paris], France

Pacific Rim: Te Pae O Te Maoananui A Kiwa, Simmons Gallery, Conduit Street, London

Artist’s Choice 11, Mt Eden Picture Framers Gallery, Auckland

Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden, Community Arts Trust, Auckland

Chosen: Premier Investment Exhibition, milford galleries Auckland

2001 Tane Whakaapiripiri, Contemporary New Zealand Artists. Awatahi Marae Arts Festival Auckland

Living Treasures / Art of Remembrance, Auckland Museum, Auckland

Fine Art Catalogue Exhibition, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland

Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden, Community Arts Trust, Auckland

Art Event 2001, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch

Artist’s Choice 1, Mt Eden Picture Framers Gallery, Auckland

Spring Catalogue Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

The 100 x 100 Exhibition, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

Works from the University of Wellington Art Collection: Whangarei Art Museum, Whangarei 2000 Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXVIII Fidem Congress: Medaillenkunst 2000, Goethe National Museum, Weimer, Germany

Millennium and America’s Cup Exhibition, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland Drive: Power>Progress>Desire, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden Community Arts Trust, AucklandThe Emigrees II, Te Wa Gallery, Whanganui Arts Trust, Wanganui

MM Mellennium Medallions, The City Gallery, Wellington

Looking Back: Artists Who Shaped New Zealand Painting Last Century, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Robert Ellis / Greer Twiss-New works on paper, Campbell Grant Galleries, Christchurch Spring Catalogue Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

The 100 x 100 Exhibition, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

New Zealand Artists, Mairangi Arts Centre, AucklandThe Still Life Show, Mt Eden Picture Framers Gallery, Auckland

Spiritual Themes in Art – Reformation, St George’s Presbyterian Church, Takapuna, Auckland

The Medallion Show: 10th Anniversary of the Contemporary New Zealand Medallion Group. McPherson Gallery, Auckland

Auckland Society of Arts, 130th Anniversary Exhibition, ASA Gallery, Auckland

The 100 x 100 Exhibition, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

Charity Fine Arts Exhibition: Starship Children’s Hospital, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland

New Zealand Fine Art, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland

The New Frontier, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch

Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden Community Arts Trust, Auckland

The Deloitte & Touche Art Collection, Deloitte House, Auckland1998

The 100 x 100 Exhibition, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland

RobertEllis2015CV

Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Miniature Mail Art: Less is More – More or Less 11Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch

The Ten Plus Ten Fine Art Show, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland

1998: Six Interviews 1973, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland

Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden Community Arts Trust, Auckland

Pin Ups, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland

Gala Fine Art, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland

Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXVI Fidem Congress: Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, Netherlands1997

Modern New Zealand Art: The Domesticated Land, The Land Domesticated Milford Galleries Dunedin, Dunedin

New Zealand Artists on the Shore, The Pumphouse Gallery, Takapuna, Auckland

Cross Section: A Selection from the Wallace Trust Collection, Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland

New Zealand Artists, Mairangi Arts Centre, AucklandFinding Our Way Home: Works from the Permanent Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland

The Artline Collection of Contemporary New Zealand Drawings, Warwick Brown Gallery, Auckland

Minature Mail Art, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch

The 100 x 100 Exhibition, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland

Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden Community Arts Trust, Auckland

Youth Prints, Muka Gallery, Auckland, and cities throughout New Zealand

1996 Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXIV Fidem Congress: Musee d’art et d’histoire, Neuchatel, Switzerland

The 100 x 100 x 100 Exhibition, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland Works in Relief, New Zealand Contemporary Medallion Group, Ferner Gallery, Auckland ECNZ Live!, Works from the Rutherford Collection, City Gallery, Wellington

Pin-Ups, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland

Hannah’s Sky City Casino, Auckland Artists in Eden: Maungawhau/ Mt Eden Community Arts Trust, Auckland

1995 The 100 x 100 x 100 Exhibition, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland Art at Tamaki, The Tamaki Campus, University of Auckland Art Collection, Auckland Contemporary Art in View 1982 – 1994, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton

1995 Catalogue Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

A Drawing Show- Michael Smither, Patrick Hanly & Robert Ellis, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland Past Students – Present Students, Northampton Central Art Gallery, United Kingdom

To Have and to Hold, FIDEM Group, Ferner Gallery of Fine Arts, Auckland

Pin-Ups: Unframed Works on Paper, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland Works on Paper, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Lithography in New Zealand, Ferner Gallery of Fine Arts, Auckland

1994 The Rutherford Trust Art Collection, Hawkes Bay Exhibition Centre, Hastings

The James Wallace Trust Collection, Auckland

The Spectrum Art Collection, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Medallions and Small Sculpture, FIDEM Group. Ferner Gallery, Auckland

Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXIV Fidem Congress: National Art Gallery, Budapest, Hungary

1993 Diversities: Elam Painters, ASA Gallery, Auckland

1992 Pacific Parallels: Artists and the Landscape in New Zealand NZ/ USA Arts Foundation with Assistance from the National Art Gallery of New Zealand and the Auckland City Art Gallery; Meridian House International, Washington DC; Block Gallery, Evanston, Illinois; Security Pacific Gallery, Seattle, Washington; San Diego; Museum of Art, San Diego, California; Academy of Fine Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii

Medallions 1992, Hawkes Bay Museum, Napier

Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXIII Fidem Congress: British Museum, London, United Kingdom

A Breath of Fresh Art, 40 new large scale works by New Zealand Artists. Rotorua

Art & History Museum, Rotorua

Small Worlds: New Zealand Contemporary Medallion Group, Logan Campbell Gallery, Auckland Museum, Auckland

1991 Six New Zealand Artists: Limited edition lithography portfolio. Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Medallions 91: CSA Galleries, Christchurch and Fingers Gallery, Auckland

As Good as Gold: Art Transactions n1981-1991, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington

Inaugural Exhibition, Warwick Brown Gallery of Contemporary New Zealand Art, Auckland

New Zealand Abstract Art 1950-1990 Warwick Henderson gallery, Auckland

Art Leads the Recovery, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Cross Currents: Contemporary New Zealand Art from the Chartwell Collection, Waikato Museum of Art & History

The Chair Show, CSA Galleries, Christchurch

35 Small Paintings, Fine Arts Library, University of Auckland

New Zealand 1990, Lithographs by 20 Artists, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Black & White, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

The City, CSA Galleries, Christchurch

ReView 90, Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga, Auckland

Wild West 91, Lopdell House Cultural Centre, Titirangi, Auckland

Pacific Parallels, Artists and the Landscape in New Zealand. New Zealand/ USA Arts Foundation. Dixon Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee; Cedar Rapids Art Museum, Iowa; Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas

1990 Arts Festival Exhibition: Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

Two Centuries of New Zealand Landscape Art, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland

Celebration: Aspects of Contemporary New Zealand Art, Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga, Auckland

Acquisitions Review 1988-1990, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland

New Zealand 1990, Lithographs by 20 Artists, a limited edition portfolio, Muka Gallery, Auckland

Federation Internationale de la Medaille XXII Fidem Congress, Helsinki, Finland

Elam Painters, ASA Galleries, Auckland

Works from the Painting Section, Fine Arts Library, University of Auckland, Auckland

Putting the Land on the Map: Art and cartography in New Zealand since 1840, Toured by the New Zealand Art Gallery Directors Council with the assistance of the QE II Arts Council to Wellington City Art Gallery; Bishop Suter Art Gallery, Nelson; Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin.

Second Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria

The Pembridge Show, New Zealand Institute of Architects in Association with the Elam School of Fine Arts Centenary Committee, Auckland

The Elam Staff Show, ASA Galleries, Auckland

Large Paintings, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Elam Centenary, A Selection of works from the permanent collection, Auckland City Art Gallery

Medallions 90: Fingers Gallery, Auckland

New Zealand Landscape Paintings, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland

Works on Paper: Inaugural Exhibition, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Images for Lovers, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Youth Prints, Touring Exhibition of lithographic prints from the Muka Gallery, Auckland

COMMISSIONS

AND GRANTS

2004 Knave Windows project: Holy Trinity Cathedral Parnell, Auckland

1991 The Aotea Tapestry, The Great Hall, National Art Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia and the Aotea Cultural Centre, Auckland

SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington

Aotea Centre, Auckland

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Auckland Council, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makau-rau

Bell Gully Collection

Bonython Collection, Adelaide, Australia

British Foreign Office

Chartwell Collection

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu

RobertEllis2015CV

City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi

Creative New Zealand, Art Coucil of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa

Deloitte Collection

Dunedin Public Art Gallery

Headmasters’ Council, Auckland Grammar School

Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago

Leicestershire Education Committee, UK

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

National Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

National Art Gallery of Australia, Canberra

National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa

New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Manatū Aorere

Northampton Art Gallery, UK

Parliamentary Collection New Zealand

Rudy Komon Collection, Sydney Australia

Rutherford Trust Collection, Aratoi: Wairarapa Museum of Art & History

Sky City, Auckland

The Fletcher Trust Collection

The James Wallace Art Trust

The Suter Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatu

The University of Auckland Art Collection

Transpower Art Collection

Todd Corporation Art Collection

USB New Zealand Ltd Art Collection

Unitec Institute of Technology, Te Whare Wananga o Wairaka University of Auckland, Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau

Wānanga O Te Ūpoko O Te Ika a Māui

Waikato Museum of Art and History, Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, Hamilton

Wellington City Council Art Collection

Whangarei Art Museum Te Manawa Toi

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2014 Keith, Hamish and Ellis, Elizabeth, Hana and Ngarino Ellis. Robert Ellis, Ron Sang Publications, Auckland, 2014

2013 Landscape Paintings of New Zealand: A Journey from North to South, Godwit and Random House, Auckland, 2013

2012 Docking, Gil and Michael Gunnand Edward Hanfling, Two Hundred and Forty Years New Zealand Painting, David Bateman, 2012

2011 Brownson, Ron (ed.). Art Toi – New Zealand Artat Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland Art Gallery, 2011

2010 The Todd Corporation Art Collection, Grantham House Publications, Wellington, 2010

2009 Pound, Francis, The Invention of New Zealand, National Art & National Identity 1930 – 1970, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2009

2008 Reid, Nicholas, The First 125 Years, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2008

2008 McHugh, Michael ‘Mixed Metaphors’, Mindfood, October, 2008 pg 156-158)

2007 Eggleton, David, “Steps Up To The Sky”, The Listener, June 23, 2007

2006 ‘Robert Ellis, Shielded Histories’, Catalogue, milford galleries Auckland, Milford House Ltd, Dunedin, 2006)

2004 Haines, Tasha ‘Robert Ellis, KITE: see find recognise”, catalogue, Milford Galleries Auckland, Milford House Ltd, Dunedin, 2004

2003 Were, Virginia, ‘Taking McCahon neat’ Art News, Autumn 2003, pg 44 – 47

2003 Dunn, Michael, New Zealand Painting: A Concise History, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2003

2003 Gardiner, Sue, ‘Maungawhau/ My Eden, a Portrait of a Particular Place’ Art News Autumn, 2003 pp 69- 71

2000 Burke, Gregory and Hana Scott, ‘Drive – Power>Progress>Desire’, exhibition catalogue, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 2000.

1999 KW, “Style and Serenity”, Art News, Winter 1999, pp 34 – 35

1996 Dunn, Michael Contemporary Painting in New Zealand, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996, pg 52

1995 Dunn, Michael ‘Robert Ellis, Farewell to Elam’ Art New Zealand, No 74, Autumn 1995, pg 66 & 67

1995 Brown, Warwick, 100 New Zealand Paintings, Godwit, Auckland, 1995 pg 21 1992? Werner, Tara, ‘Sky City Works of Art; Changing Time”, pp 26 & 27 (catalogue??)

1992 Keith, Hamish, ‘Heartlands: Another View of New Zealand Art’, Art and Australia, Vol. 30, (2), 1992.

1991 Eldredge, Charles C.with Jim Barr and Mary Barr Pacific Parallels, Artists and the landscape in New Zealand, (Catalog to accompany an exhibition held at the San Diego Museum of Art and other U.S. museums, 1991-1993, and thereafter at the National Art Gallery, Wellington, N.Z.Washington, D.C.) : New Zealand-United States Arts Foundation ; San Diego : San Diego Museum of Art ; Seattle : Distributed by University of Washington Press, 1991.

1991/3 Dunn, Michael, A Concise History of New Zealand Painting, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1991/93

1990 Docking, Gil and Michael Dunn, Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, Bateman, Auckland, 1990.

1990 Blackley, Roger, Two Centuries of New Zealand Landscape Art, Auckland City Art gallery, 1990.

1990 Curnow, Wynstan, Putting the Land on the Map, Gowett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 1990.

1986 Elva Bett, New Zealand Art: A Modern Perspective, Reed/ Methuen, Auckland, 1986.

1989 Smith, Alan, ‘Mapping Imperatives: Putting the Land on the Map at the Govet-Brewster Art Gallery’, Art New Zealand, Spring 1989 pg 74 -

1985 Brown, Warwick “A Motorway Journey, Paintings By Robert Ellis”, Art New Zealand, , Number 34, 1985, pg 36 – 41

1980 Barr, Jim and Mary, Contemporary New Zealand Painters, Vol .1, Alister Taylor, Martinborough, 1980.

1969 Brown, Gordon and Hamish Keith, An Introduction to New Zealand Painting 1839 – 1967, Collins, Auckland, 1969.

1968 Melville, Robert, ‘A Stranger in New Zealand’, Architectural Review, No. 862, 1968